Delhi To Have An Entrepreneurship Council To Boost Startup Ecosystem Says State

May 07, 2016: Following “Startup India, Standup India” movement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has now announced to set up a 8 Member Entrepreneurship Council which will be headed by Naukri.Com founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani.

It will also comprise of members from industries and businesses as well as angel investors such as Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Mahesh Murthy of Pinstorm and Vikas Kuthiala from IAN. Industries Minister Satyendar Jain, will be the patron for this council.

The idea behind council is to convey to the government on how to create a friendly environment for entrepreneurship. Sanjeev also added, “It is not just about technology start-ups by IITs or IIMs but about inclusive entrepreneurship. Our aim is to promote bottom-of-the-pyramid entrepreneurship and it could be a street vendor or a local shopkeeper”.

The DDC vice-chairman, Ashish Khetan submitted the roadmap for council earlier. The council would work by taking into account feedback from existing entrepreneurs in Delhi.

Promoting ease of doing business, boosting new enterprises, funding startups and creating new jobs in the city will be the role of the advisory body. The recommendations would be focused upon creating a suitable policy for all including newbies, SME’s as well as larger ones. The council will work under the aegis of Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDC), and will have three months to submit their report.

The initiative was taken to put a halt to brain drain from Delhi. Kejriwal stated that “if approved by the Centre, this would also provide a fillip to the businesses in the city, many of which have moved to Noida and Gurgaon despite being founded here”.

The council will take help from Startup India, Centre’s ongoing startup promotion movement. Kejriwal also added “But the focus will be inclusive. We want startups to grow in a big way through aggregation and will make available the necessary capital and environment”.